Expand your at-home organic food planning!
Composting and Food Allergies: Take care of the enviroment and yourself.
You may enjoy your own organic grown goodies at home and composting can be an integrated part of your overall at-home plan. At Tryst Café we also feature many organic ingredients, wine and entrées. And for guests with food allergies, we feature many gluten-free selections for breakfast, lunch and dinner each day of the week. Come by Tryst Cafe and try the freshest menu in the Desert Ridge Marketplace area.
This article previously posted by AAAAI.org
As we become more environmentally conscious, earth-friendly practices like composting are gaining popularity in homes and community settings. That poses an interesting question: Is composting food waste safe for people with food allergies?
For a food to cause a significant allergic reaction, it must gain access inside the 
body. This can be through ingestion, contact with an open wound (such as a scratch), or inhaling fine particles in the air or fumes from heated food. In most instances, being near or adding food waste in a composter or a composting pile should have little risk to a food allergic person, providing you take these precautions:
• If you are food allergic and are doing the composting, wear a pollen mask to prevent inhaling any particles. Goggles, gloves, and wearing long sleeves and long pants can prevent contact exposure if you have scratches or open wounds.
• If you are composting and are around someone with food allergies, wear gloves when composting or thoroughly wash your hands so that you don’t run the risk of transferring allergen particles.
Is the heat generated from the composting process enough to prevent an allergic reaction?
Research is showing that extensively heating milk and egg can reduce the 
potential for an allergic reaction. Since heat is released in the composting process, many people wonder if the heat changes the makeup of the allergen enough that it is no longer an allergen.
While heat can affect the allergic properties of foods, the effect differs from food to food. It also depends upon the degree and duration of heating.
For instance, roasting can actually increase the allergic properties of peanuts, whereas boiling has the potential to cause a decrease. You also have to consider the extent and duration to which the peanut is roasted or boiled.
View a FREE video “When Food Kills”, click here >> http://goo.gl/Y9Cc4 .
The bottom line is that composting may have a minor effect in altering the allergic properties of the foods treated, but how much so is not predictable and would vary from food to food. If you have food allergies, be safe. Use the strategies mentioned above when you handle the materials after the composting process too.
Did You Know?
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), food waste is the single largest component of municipal solid waste reaching landfills and incinerators.
To the Point
Following basic precautions can keep composting safe for most people with food allergies.
Be sure and share this article with your friends and family that have food allergy or may be interested in composting!
Voted BEST NEW Restaurant by PHOENIX Magazine! As Desert Ridge’s best restaurant, the Tryst Café restaurant takes great pleasure in providing a unique, tasty and visually tantalizing organic, healty and amazingly delicious menu while creating a very warm, hospitable atmosphere with live music on Monday evenings. Join us for breakfast, lunch or dinner; dine-in or take-out!
Make a reservation for dine-in at 480-585-7978.
Order amazing take-out by phone or fax, for menu click here >> http://goo.gl/P6bOV.
Map and Directions, Tryst Cafe at 21050 N. Tatum Blvd, just across the street (west) from Desert Ridge Marketplace at the SR101, (by Starbucks). For map and directions, click here >> http://g.co/maps/gxkc9.
Tryst Cafe - Desert Ridge 